One of Palo Alto’s most well-known homelessness organizations, Downtown Streets Team, has named a new CEO, according to a news release.
Julie Gardner will take the helm of Downtown Streets Team on Jan. 29 after being picked to lead the nonprofit by its board of directors. Gardner joins the organization from the College of San Mateo, where she worked as the director of Crisis Relief Programs and SparkPoint, a family living assistance organization.
“I am thrilled to be invited into the organization and hope to leverage my expertise in scaling equity-centered initiatives to complement DST's legacy of community action and transformative impact," Gardner said in a release.
Downtown Streets Team offers unhoused people jobs in which they help clean city streets in exchange for personalized case management, housing and food vouchers and employment services. Since its founding in 2005, in partnership with the Downtown Association of Palo Alto, the now-San Jose-based nonprofit has expanded to 20 cities around the Bay Area.
The Palo Alto branch works with the city and other nonprofits to provide services like outreach and the Downtown Food Closet (the former Palo Alto Food Closet), which offers groceries to lower-income and unhoused people, the Streets Team's website states.
Gardner will take the helm from interim CEO Jim Rettew, who replaced former CEO and founder Eileen Richardson. She retired from the nonprofit in 2022, two years after former employees accused Richardson and other executives of sexual harassment and creating a drinking culture at the organization.
Gardner earned a bachelor’s degree in 2013 and a master's in public health in 2017 from San Francisco State University, according to her LinkedIn. From 2013 to 2017, she worked at Alameda Family Services before heading to Health Promotion & Wellness at San Francisco State from 2017 to 2022. Gardner also lectures part-time at her alma mater.
At the College of San Mateo, where she’s spent the past two years, Gardner helmed PATHS, a college-focused rapid rehousing program. Her work at the two colleges has served “over 5,400 individuals facing food insecurity, housing instability, and financial hardship,” the release states.
